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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
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Motorists who use the Pango mobile app to pay at parking meters in Scranton will get reimbursed for any inadvertent overcharges since Sept. 1, the new operator of the city’s parking system said.
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Scranton has received a $6,000 contribution from the nonprofit Lutherwood senior housing center, Councilman Frank Joyce announced Thursday at city council's meeting.

The donation is the third payment in lieu of taxes the city has received this year, he said. In July, the University of Scranton made its annual $175,000 contribution to the city, more than four months earlier than usual because of the city's financial crisis. Before that, the city received a $22,800 PILOT from the Scranton Housing Authority.

Council and the mayor hope nonprofits significantly increase donations, and they included such revenue in the city's revised recovery plan.

The plan calls for $1.3 million in 2013, $1.95 million in 2014 and $2.4 million in 2015.

"We hope that more Scranton nonprofits will follow Lutherwood's example and provide a fair-share contribution to their host city in light of its serious financial problems," council President Janet Evans said. "Scranton's largest tax-exempt entities appear to have questionable regard for the poor people of Scranton who pay taxes for not only their own properties and public services, but also those of Scranton nonprofits who refuse to make fair-share contributions for the properties they remove from the tax rolls and 24-7 services they receive from our city."

Mrs. Evans also remarked on the university's Sept. 27 purchase of the Adlin Building on Courthouse Square for $1.95 million, coming on the heels of the college's Sept. 7 lawsuit against the city's new 15 percent parking tax.

Councilman Bob McGoff defended the university as one of the few nonprofits that has given PILOTs over the years and for bettering the city in numerous ways, including neighborhood improvement and jobs. Attacking nonprofits or "going to war" is not the right approach, he said.

Council also noted the death of city zoning board Chairman Jim Williams Sr. of North Scranton, who died Saturday at home after an illness. Calling Mr. Williams a close friend and mentor, Councilman Pat Rogan said of his death, "It will be a great loss to the community."

Council will be accepting from today until Oct. 15 letters of interest from residents who wish to fill the zoning board vacancy.

Councilman Jack Loscombe and council solicitor Boyd Hughes were absent.

Council also voted 4-0 to adopt the following ordinances:

n To transfer $281,783 from unused 2011 federal Community Development Block Grant funds to repay a 12-year-old federal loan for the downtown Hilton Scranton and Conference Center project of the city's Office of Economic and Community Development. This ordinance was first advanced on second reading, then council suspended its rules to adopt it after a third reading. A companion amendment to a resolution from 2000 also was adopted to create a bank account to accomplish the allocation and loan repayment. During a public caucus before the council meeting, OECD Executive Director Linda Aebli explained that the transfer is necessary under federal rules to use funding by a certain time or forfeit it.

n To establish an escrow account for earned-income tax revenue to pay back the city's recent $6 million short-term, tax-anticipation-note loan from Amalgamated Bank of New York and Washington, D.C. Because this bank is not registered in Pennsylvania, the city had to create an account at an in-state bank, from which wage taxes would be disbursed to Amalgamated to repay the loan. The escrow account is at First Liberty Bank in Scranton.

n To accept by deed certain streets, open space and stormwater facilities in the Mountain Lake Estates subdivision.

Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com

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